Human breast cancers are classifiable into five molecular distinct intrinsic subtypes, Her2-enriched, Basal-like, Luminal A, Luminal B and normal-like (Perou et al. Nature, 406(6797):747-52 (2000); Sorlie et al. PNAS, 98(19):10869-74 (2001)). Although differences in prognosis and molecular biology have been established, to date, there exists less evidence demonstrating a variation in chemosensitivity among the intrinsic subtypes.
Taxane therapy has proven to be effective against many types of tumors. However, side effects are associated with taxane therapy, including nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, change in taste, thinned or brittle hair, pain in the joints of the arms or legs lasting two to three days, changes in the color of the nails, and tingling in the hands or toes. More serious side effects such include bruising or bleeding, pain/redness/swelling at the injection site, change in normal bowel habits for more than two days, fever, chills, cough, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, dizziness, shortness of breath, severe exhaustion, skin rash, facial flushing, female infertility by ovarian damage and chest pain. Based on these side-effects of taxane based therapy, there is a need in the art to determine types of cancer that respond best to taxane based therapy and which types of cancer would be better to treat with non-taxane based therapy.